Sunday, October 14, 2007
If you remember a while back I posted about writing a letter to congress and senate.
I got a letter back today from Senator Lugar. It's kind of long to re-type. It's actually a real letter. Not just one sentence about my original letter then some canned political response. It talks about sanctions and such. It talks about getting India, Russia, Japan, and China involved. There is also information were you can go on the senate web site for information.
Here is one paragraph from the letter
"I continue to be particularly concerned with the on-going imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi. I am co-sponsor of a resolution recognizing her achievments in the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma. On March 29, 2006, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which I was then chairman, held a hearing on U.S.-Burma relations. You may wish to read more about this hearing at http://foreign.senate.gov/"
(If you click the U.S.-Burma Relations link at the top you can watch a video of the hearings, it doesn't actually start until like 15min. into the video.)
The letter makes me feel he really does care (maybe I'm easily fooled?). I wouldn't say this letter would guarantee me to vote for him again, but he gets brownie points for trying.
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This response though was more than just a postcard that said "Thank you for your concern." It detailed specific legislation that Lugar was working on to address the issues that concerned my father. It was obvious that someone on Lugar's staff took the time to actually read my fathers letter, and give a meaningful response to it.
Twelve years ago, I ran for public office. I was challenging an incumbent in a primary, and I knew I didn't have a chance of winning. After I had lost the election, I received a call from a member of Sen. Lugar's staff. He said that they had been following my campaign and found some of the things I said to be interesting. He invted me to meet with him to talk.
As a follow up to our conversation, I was invited to Sen. Lugar's office in Indianapolis. I met with Leslie Reeser who, I believe, was the head of his staff. I was (and still am) a political nobody, so there was nothing to be gained here by Lugar. They simply listened to my ideas, gave me some feedback, and encouraged me to stay involved in the political process.
I have heard other stories as well. Senator Lugar's staff is very responsive. And they do this in a substantive manner.
If we stop all U.S based businesses from operating there, what is to stop another nation from stepping in to fill the void?